The Virtual Outpost of Author M. D. Boncher

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I must remind myself, yet again, that the deadlines I give myself must be multiplied by a factor of 3 in regards to time. 😦 I also must remember that I am not in a race to publish, and that I need to stop it with those deadlines. I am just so frustrated that I seem always too far away from where I want to be. Editing seems to have me in a Norman Juster-esque geographical oddity.

In preparation for the upcoming release of my book, I need to reorganize some things on my site and do other things.

First, I have noticed almost zero traffic to my Library and Studio pages, so I guess it’s time to pull them down. That doesn’t mean that the content is going to go away completely. Instead, I am going to spend some time, once I can take my focus off the editing grind, and work on finishing the timeline and atlas of Akiniwazi for future giveaways. So if you liked it in the future, but have not signed up or jumped on the mailing list, it will become available again for those who desire it again.

Second, I have been plotting book 2 in the background (Book 3 is ostensibly written, but had to be pushed back one novel because I had points and characters from the first book that originally got nothing in what had previously been written.) and have come to a major hook to string all these neat scenes in my head together. It is under the working title, for my own sanity, of “Finnsoga”, since the 3rd book is technically Reimarsoga: book 2.

Third, I will be re-titling the whole shebang once I get closer to publication and will be putting up a poll for people to vote on titles, preferably before I go to the artist for a cover, so expect that soon.

On a positive note, even if things go completely cattywampus and I can’t get book one out as soon as I hoped, there is still the chance of 2-3 books coming out in 2017. I am going to be refining my editing process as mentioned in the past, and well, live and learn I guess. I know I can get the drafts out there, but my issue has been getting edits done quickly. My hope is that what I am about to set up for book 2 could shave 2-3 months off of how long it’s taking. (remember, the original manuscript for book 1 was finished in May, but the major structural rewrite wasn’t done till Sept. Something I’ll never have to do again I hope.)

So as you can see, things are moving forward. Just not at the pace I want.

Okay, here’s the deal. I am looking for Beta Readers. I have a few confirmed, but I would like a small, comfortable herd of interested parties who would be willing to read and fill out a questionnaire (plus whatever other criticism they may have) on my latest edit of Reimarsoga. Remember, this is going to be a critical read, not just a fun read. (well okay, it will be fun if I have my druthers.)

Details! (I will provide final instructions in the email)

Start Date: No later than Oct 27th, 2016. (Date is currently pending the completion of latest edit, finalization of the map and questionnaire. It may come early.)

End Date: No later than Nov. 21st, 2016. (I need time to make changes before I send it to the editor for a January release).

Bonus Treat: Participants who complete the beta read will be eligible for a FREE COPY once the book is released currently planned for the 1st week of January! (I know, right?)

Space is limited, so please don’t be disappointed if you do not get in… Book 2 is right around the corner!

That’s it as I see it. If you have experience with editing, I am very interested in your input. Enthusiastic fans of Fantasy, Steampunk, Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction are strongly encouraged to apply.

To take the plunge, please reply the Contact page (extra linkypoo) and send a request through the email you wish the files to be sent to. If you do not receive a confirmation email, you have not been selected, or I did not get it. If that’s the case, try again before Oct 27th… cause I gotta put a hard deadline somewhere… and we’ll get it cleared up.

Once November starts, I will be focusing on my next Akiniwazi novel…la? I’m doing NaNoWriMo, so its goal is 50k words and the faster I finish that means bonus stuff for y’all.

After the high of completing the second draft and getting some extremely positive feedback from an Alpha Reader, I’m about to embark on the next triad of actions, and I have to say, they scare me more than anything else that I’ve been up to so far.

Okay… well 2 out of the 3.

First, is prepping to send the book out to beta readers. I am still looking for a few willing to commit and have fun with the process. I know I’m making a big deal and possibly getting more input than I might need, but I’m looking for fans of the fantasy genre and if I can find someone in the industry who wants to offer an opinion, I’m really interested in that too. Forgive me, I don’t know any better.

This means that I am putting together the PDF, after I am done with the 3rd edit where I’m going to sweep through the book using a text to speech program, and another editorial bit of software to catch very difficult/clumsy, icky sections, problematic grammar and all that goop.

Once completed, and the beta readers are going through it all, I am going to have to start laying out my limited funds for a cover artist. The importance of having a stellar cover is so hard to understate. I just look at my own behavior when looking at books. Crap cover, I keep browsing. I don’t care how much the reviews say it’s awesome. Sad but true. The only time I don’t follow that is when I am more or less researching an author. Having done graphic design in the past, I have a very good eye for a pro cover, and will have to make sure this hits the quality I want.

Then probably a line editor. I wish I could get a developmental editor, but that’s too expensive for me and so I’m going to have to just trust my instincts and what my alpha/beta readers feedback provides. I perhaps waited too long to get one to hit my desired deadline, but that’s okay. I’ll look into pre-orders to help out with that if I can, once I learn how to set up my merchant pages and everything. Right now I can’t even handle thinking about that yet because I’m so ignorant of it all and have to learn more fast.

As an enticement for some people who may be interested, I desire to set up a free copy for those who volunteer and complete the beta read (questionnaire and all before the deadline). I’m also toying with doing a paperback, and possibly hardcover release (if I can find a service that does POD hardcovers… I haven’t researched it.) Beyond that, I’m just formulating things for my marketing and sales plan. Lots of ideas to come.

So now’s the time to hop on the bandwagon if you like what you see and think you want to be part of the final celebratory dash of this marathon. Sign up, and be a part of the fun!

I publish more often short updates to Facebook, so I decided to start sharing the content here from now on. They won’t occur on any set schedule, but usually happen after I finish writing for the day, making them erratic and very stream of consciousness.

So my posting will be increasing, but expect the beginning and weekend posts as usual.

How odd. Today’s word count: 4,444. Yep. Quad four. LOL
Of course I probably broke 5000, but much of that would be due to editing and little extra sentences and editorial cleanup. Boy, I feel like such a hack at times, but the story’s the thing.

But today was hard. I had to do a hard thing because I got wrapped up in a character and bad things needed to happen. So I did them… and that’s a good place to stop for the day.

One final scene and the battle is over. That leaves only three more to go. Conclusion, separation and resolution. Two of the three have been partially written already.